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Who pays the tariffs?

The quick answer---we do, not the Chinese or another foreign entity---we do.

When I fell on Sept. 6th I was ready to order a new sliding table saw. By the time I got back the second week of Jan and got back to the saw the price had jumped by about $5000.00. The reason--the once German made saw is now made in China and as such became subject to a 25% tariff on Jan. 1.

For the record, there is no American made equivalent.

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill

"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner

Of course we do. Who else pays for taxes (which a tariff is). The foreign citizens likewise pay for the tariffs for US goods. The government gets rich we get poor, same song different verse. If there were no tariff increases we pay on the other end with the economic reaction to massive trade deficits. They got us coming and going. But just to make some feel better I will add the ubiquitous "it's all Trumps fault". Now does everybody feel better?

OPINION....a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

I did not post this to bring up an issue of who kicked the dog. I posted this simply because I hear people commenting about tariffs as if the Chinese are paying the tariffs.

In general, I am not opposed to much of the effort to level the playing field---something the Chinese in particular have grossly violated ever since Nixon lifted the tent. I happened to be in China when they gained "favored nation" status, you might have thought they won the world cup.

My own current problem stems from the confusion and fluidity of the application of these tariffs, it makes it almost impossible for someone like me to do effective planning.

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill

"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner

The foreign competitors pay a big price in loss of competitiveness. That is the ostensible reason behind tariffs, and in Trump’s current move, an ultimate desire to equalize tariffs or eliminate them altogether with those governments who have leveled theirs previously against our goods. There is a method to the madness. The suffering is design to promote the cure. In the case of Dave’s saw, it is leveraged against Germany’s & China’s many grossly disproportionate levies against American products, such as automobiles and others.

Let me re state.. who put the current tariffs with the Chinese in place?

You should never ask a question you know the answer to. But in reality that has nothing to do with anything. You would be much more transparent if you would simply come out and say I disagree with Trump putting tariffs on the Chinese.

OPINION....a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

I could do a lot of Google research and probably find a lot of red herrings that fit a narrative to show that the Tariff is a terrible thing for the us but not a terrible thing for China I just don't have the time and energy to do it.

OPINION....a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.